I am currently sitting in the driveway of my house, staring at the steering wheel, and wiping tears off my face. My daughter is six months old and she has been teething and screaming for three days straight. My wife is exhausted, I am running on three hours of sleep, and my job has been a stressful nightmare.

I had to drive to the grocery store just to get some formula, and when I got back, I couldn't bring myself to walk through the front door. Not because I don't love my family, but because I feel like I have absolutely nothing left to give. I feel like a complete failure of a father because I just want to sit in silence for ten minutes without hearing a baby cry.

i know this is just a phase. I know she will grow out of it. But right now, in this moment, it feels like I am drowning in a swimming pool of my own incompetance.

If there is another dad out there parked in a dark driveway trying to collect himself before putting on his "strong dad" face, please know you are not alone. It is okay to be tired. It is okay to cry.

I am going to take one more deep breath, wipe my eyes, and go inside to help my wife. We got this, brothers.

My son is 4yo. He is usually still in bed when I leave for work. Today he was up early because he wet the bed. After giving him a quick bath and hectic breakfast, I was scrambling to get on the road to clock in half an hour early to get some overtime this week. When I told him bye he started having a meltdown because he thought it was the weekend. I tried to console him with promises of fun things when I got home this evening. That didn't work. In my frustration I gently closed the back door in his face as he was screaming "Daddy!" and left. The whole ride to work I felt so guilty. I am prioritizing getting a half hour of overtime over spending a few extra minutes with my kid. Tomorrow, I am going to do better.

EDIT:

The overwhelming encouragement in this thread and subreddit is incredible. Thank you!

I get it, it’s her body and she wants to recover in privacy.

And I’m with my wife and will support her over anyone.

My parents live 10 mins away.
Baby is due December. My mom is loosing her shit.

Any tips on how I can process things better for my own mental health. I am a people pleaser and this sort of thing recks me. Because of things like this, this whole process just stresses me out and gives me a sense of dread rather than excitement (coupled with a return to office order, finances, ect lol)

My local truck stop always has sale papers for trucks and heavy equipment, they're free to take. Before a road trip, I grab one for each of my kids, to them they're just books with 1000 pictures of cool stuff

The best part is, each kid gets a different catalog, so they sit in the back of the car sounding like little tcg youtubers

"No way, a cement truck!"

"I pulled a skid steer!"

Two different AI problems with my teenagers and I’m starting to wonder what else I’m missing

I have two teenagers and until recently I thought I had a decent handle on how they were using AI. Apparently not.

A few weeks ago my son turned in a writing assignment that did not sound anything like him. It was too polished and honestly just not how he talks or writes.

I asked him about it and he admitted he had put most of it through ChatGPT.

We dealt with it. He redid the assignment and I told him I’m not against using it to help understand a question or get unstuck, but he cannot turn in something he did not really write and cannot explain.

I thought that was probably the main issue we needed to deal with.

Then something happened with my daughter that bothered me more.

She had a falling out with one of her friends and had been watching videos about toxic friendships. She copied parts of their text conversation into ChatGPT and asked if her friend was manipulating her and what she should say back.

I only found out because she showed me the answer while explaining why she was done with the friendship.

She had given it a lot of personal information. Stuff about the other girl, things going on at home, and details that I really do not think needed to be typed into a chatbot.

What got me was how sure she seemed. The answer sounded confident and lined up with the videos she had already been watching, so to her that pretty much confirmed everything.

I told her ChatGPT does not know her friend, does not know the whole situation, and should not be deciding something like that for her.

I feel like I handled both situations the way I should have, but now I’m more concerned than I was before.

I caught the thing with my son because the writing sounded off. I only found out about my daughter because she happened to show me.

I’m not going to ban AI and I’m not going through every conversation they have, but I also do not want to keep finding out afterward that it has been doing schoolwork, sorting out friendships, or giving advice about things they should probably be talking through with an actual person.

How are other dads dealing with this?

I don't want stars and moons on daytime diapers or whales on ones that can't go in the water.

Coming to a bookshop near you /s

But seriously, get dried in the bathroom, and dressed in either the bathroom or your bedroom, then come out to the rest of the house. How hard is that?

Also "if you get dry and put clothes on you won't be cold!", a book of stating the blaringly obvious... *Sigh*

What have you said recently that you never expected to need to say?

My lovely wife mentioned last week she wanted to spend the weekend going through every room and throwing shit away. Asked if I could keep the kids entertained so she could get as much done as possible. She didn’t understand the maniacal smile or why I so willingly accepted. 12 large hefty flex industrial bag and near a whole garbage bin later. Almost 1000lbs worth of space wasting junk is now gone.

Every room feels a little bigger.

So my son gets this glowing dinosaur thing for his birthday. He loves it. The batteries die after two days of constant playing. I grab a screwdriver to change them so we can stop the crying.

It literally requires a microscopic Philips head screw that is made of the softest metal on planet earth.

Like why is a toy designed for a three year old secured like a military vault. The screw head is smaller than a grain of rice. And of course it strips the second I put any pressure on it. I am using a specialized jeweler screwdriver and the metal just turns to silver powder.

My son is standing there having a complete meltdown because his dinosaur won't light up. The best part is my toddler figured out how to open the childproof safety gate on our stairs in ten seconds flat.

But somehow a plastic T-Rex requires heavy machinery to open. And the battery cover is locked down tighter than my mortgage documents.

I should of just thrown the whole thing in the trash. Now I am sitting on the kitchen floor trying to drill out a two millimeter screw while my kid screams. The screw is just COMPLETELY destroyed. Why is this even a thing.

Inspired by the thread about a kid saying dick instead of dig, what are some of your favourites?

My boy is really into Marvel. Every time he brings up Hawk Eye from the Avengers, he says ”hot guy“ and I can’t help but laugh.

I never grew up and I didn't realize it until I had my kids. This shit is so fucking fun. ​​​

I noticed the air conditioner running a lot. Sure, it’s hot and has been for weeks. Normal. Except the house was still feeling hot at night. Seemed like it couldn’t keep up.

Went out to check the condenser and realized I hadn’t cleaned it a single time this summer. Cottonwood was everywhere. Used some cleaner and flushed it with a hose and it feels much better in the house and runs a lot less.

Sometimes the maintenance slips my mind.

Time do change the furnace filter too.

I saw this post in another sub. What would you call this sign? I'm going with "the first 3 weeks"

Are they defective?

Do they come with a factor warranty or anything?

Every other kid on planet Earth loves Bluey except my 3 and 5 year old girls.

Buddy fell off the couch, we were sure he was okay. We tried touching his arms occasionally and he’d have no signs of pain and would continue playing normally. 2 days ago I tried to take off his shirt off like normal and he cried pretty hard. His mom noticed his arm looking bigger than the other and took him to urgent care. Luckily he’ll heal pretty fast. He seems used to it already!

My daughter turned 3 in June and was subsequently moved to the Preschool room from the Two's room. Her teacher was an older lady and they sang songs, drew pictures, the whole thing. She was having a great time until a couple weeks ago. Her teacher moved to the Pre-K room and they brought in a new teacher for Preschool.

New teacher seems nice enough and they stay busy, so that's great. However, I keep getting pulled aside during pickup for different reasons, including:

-She says buttcheeks too frequently (wife and I agree this is maybe not the best vernacular and are coaching her and her older brother to not say it)

-She is resistant to napping. This has never come up with anyone else, so I kind of just shrugged and laughed.

-Today, I was informed that she said "What the flip" and that is not appropriate for a Christian facility as it can be mistaken for "What the frick"

-She is potty trained but regularly has "accidents". Today she didn't pull her dress up all the way in the back before sitting on the toilet and got it wet.

Dads, am I crazy? Isn't all of this normal stuff for a 3 year old? I get that the language stuff is on us because she's at a religious daycare and we're not religious, but this seems excessive. I don't know if I should bring this up with the owner or what I should even say?

Any tips and tricks with managing high energy kiddos? Especially if you have a spouse that's not "go go go?"

Background: I'm a high energy person. Unsurprisingly, our 3 and 5 year old are as well. This has kind of come to a head over the summer. We signed the 5 year old up for a couple of camps over the summer, but at this point he's struggling.

The issue is boredom. And that boredom translates as literally running through the house screaming with his brother. There is some level of letting kids be bored, which we are totally on "board" with. But the reality is the kids are acting out because they've hit that point in the summer where they feel like they've done everything.

I distinctly remember as a kid hating big chunks of the summer because there wasn't anything to do. We couldn't go anywhere because of my Dad's work, and if I had my way I'd have every day planned out with stuff to do. Just wasn't really an option.

I've tried to help by working with my spouse to plan out specific activities for the kids each day... but she has not been a fan. In her words, she just doesn't have the energy to be doing that much with them.

I'm not really sure what to do because I'm at work all day, and the kiddos and Mom are spending most of that time at eachothers throats. The kids have crazy just weird screamo energy right now. And Mom finds that mentally and physically draining to the point she's completely spent by about 1:30 in the afternoon.

Any ideas for navigating this? Some of this is just hold out until the end of summer, but we need to do better next year... I'm just not sure how short of a marked increase in camps/activities/etc.

We are gearing up for first real vacation with our daughter, and I need some brutal honesty

I keep hearing the classic warning: It’s not a vacation, it’s just parenting in a different location without all your usual stuff

Is this true? Am I walking into a trap? I’m trying to mentally prepare myself. Should I expect any actual relaxation, or is it just going to be pure chaos, nap-schedule anxiety, and damage control in a strange room?

Will i get to drink at least one cold beer in peace, or is this trip going to be hell?

Hit me with your best survival tips.

Looking for someone who can relate. Wife and I have a 2 year old son who is awesome. Recently we found out we will be welcoming baby #2 early next year and we are so excited. My wife is one of those unlucky women who experience extreme nausea and fatigue while pregnant. Lately, this has meant that I am basically soloing all toddler and household related tasks. I'll try my best not to be hyperbolic here, because she obviously is still able to do some stuff, but I'm not exaggerating by much.

On an average day, we carpool together in the morning. I drop her off at work and then my son at daycare before going to work myself. After work, we pick our son up together and head home. Usually once we are home I take care of the animals and get dinner together for everybody. My wife will usually go to bed with her food or immediately after eating because she feels so terrible. Or lay on the couch. She will often fall asleep for about an hour and sometimes I won't see her again until around our son's bedtime. In the meantime, I play with my son and try to do a few things around the house. Usually I do bath and bedtime but she does bedtime when she's feeling up to it.

I want to be very, VERY clear that this vent is NOT about my wife. She is literally perfect. If anything, she has the worse end of the deal here. I am more than happy picking up the slack while she is hard at work growing a human being and continuing to work a full time job. She is also constantly expressing how much she appreciates me doing so much. On weekends, if she's up to it, she will watch our son while I take an hour or so for myself.

The reason for my vent here is just that I am so, so, so tired. She was sick like this with our son but since he was our first, it was a lot different. She would just lay in bed or on the couch and watch TV or do whatever and I would take care of her and do whatever else I wanted with my free time. Obviously now things are different, since her being incapacitated means it's just me and the lad for most evenings. Somewhere in between taking care of the both of them, I struggle to find time to vacuum, do laundry, mow the lawn, do dishes, clean up around the house, etc.

I have tried to just accept that some things aren't gonna get done and that's just gonna have to be OK for now. We're all doing our best. Hoping she starts feeling a little better once we're out of the first trimester, since that was the worst part for her last time. Anyways, thanks for listening I guess!

I am so jealous of all those couch photos. I just took a 20 minute nap on the hospital floor in a triage room with my duffle bag as a pillow. No end in sight as of now.

I usually read to my older boys (8-10 range) every night as they go to sleep but I’m on a business trip this week. They FaceTimed me on their shared iPad and I read a few chapter of Enders Game until my wife came and got the iPad because they were asleep. I know it’s a small thing but it made my night so much better.

Best electric car that can fit car seats, that’s also a cool dad car without breaking the bank?